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<div><ol><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">'Student Loan Forgiveness Act' introduced - E-Action </font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Labor Studies 115 Class: Workplace Health and Safety Certificate - Saturday April 21, 22 & 28 2012 - L.A.þ</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Back to the Future: Union Survival Strategies in Open Shop Americaþ </font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Take Action to Protect Workers' Rightsþ</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Equal Pay Day Story!þ </font></h2></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/18110?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&t=13" target="_blank" style="line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-left; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Senate Seeks Ways To Save Ailing US Postal Service</a> </b></font></li><li><font size="3"><b><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/18108?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&t=11" target="_blank" style="line-height: 23px; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Class Warfare: As American as Apple Pie</a>
</b></font></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">AFGE members' action against USCIS move-April 18þ</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">Health Insurance Reforms: How Will They Affect Employment-Based Coverage in California?þ</font></h2></li><li><h2 class="ReadMsgSubject" style="line-height: 24px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="3">URGENT: Workers' Rights on the Lineþ</font></h2> </li></ol><div><br></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; "><div style="margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">Since 1999, average student loan debt has increased by a shameful 511%. In 2010, total outstanding student loan debt exceeded total outstanding credit card debt in America for the first time ever. In 2012, total outstanding student loan debt is expected to exceed $1 trillion.</div><div style="margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">In response to this crisis, U.S. Representative Hansen Clarke of Michigan has just introduced H.R. 4170, the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, which would extend a helping hand to those struggling under massive amounts of student loan debt. <br></div><div style="margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">That's why I created a petition to Rep. John Kline, Chairman of the House Education and the Workplace Committee; the United States House of Representatives and Senate; and President Barack Obama on SignOn<i>.</i>org, which says:</div><div style="margin-left: 40px; ">Total outstanding student loan debt in America is expected to exceed $1 TRILLION this year. Millions of hardworking, taxpaying, educated Americans are being crushed under the weight of their educational debts, while the economy continues to sputter. Support a REAL economic stimulus and jobs plan. Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 (H.R. 4170).</div><div style="margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; "><b>Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:</b></div><div style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><a href="http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272847&id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx&t=2" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272847&id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx&t=2</a></div></span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 10pt; "></span><br style="line-height: 17px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small; "><div style="line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 10pt; font-family: helvetica, arial; ">-----Original Message-----<br>From: Robert Applebaum <moveon-help@list.moveon.org><br>To: john f martinez <inmart5@aol.com><br>Sent: Tue, Apr 17, 2012 12:57 pm<br>Subject: Student Loan Forgiveness Act introduced<br><br><div id="ecxAOLMsgPart_1_4d9d5264-36d3-47a5-9412-2e91ca0550d9"><font face="Arial, Verdana, sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; "><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; "><em>Below is an email from Robert Applebaum, a MoveOn member who created a petition at SignOn.org that is getting a lot of attention and may be of interest to people in your area. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, <a href="http://civic.moveon.org/signon_feedback/?id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx&t=1" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">click here</a>.</em></div><hr style="line-height: 17px; "><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">Dear MoveOn member,</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">Since 1999, average student loan debt has increased by a shameful 511%. In 2010, total outstanding student loan debt exceeded total outstanding credit card debt in America for the first time ever. In 2012, total outstanding student loan debt is expected to exceed $1 trillion.</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">In response to this crisis, U.S. Representative Hansen Clarke of Michigan has just introduced H.R. 4170, the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, which would extend a helping hand to those struggling under massive amounts of student loan debt. <br></div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">That's why I created a petition to Rep. John Kline, Chairman of the House Education and the Workplace Committee; the United States House of Representatives and Senate; and President Barack Obama on SignOn<i>.</i>org, which says:</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-left: 40px; ">Total outstanding student loan debt in America is expected to exceed $1 TRILLION this year. Millions of hardworking, taxpaying, educated Americans are being crushed under the weight of their educational debts, while the economy continues to sputter. Support a REAL economic stimulus and jobs plan. Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 (H.R. 4170).</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; "><b>Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:</b></div><div style="line-height: 17px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; "><a href="http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272847&id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx&t=2" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.moveon.org/r?r=272847&id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx&t=2</a></div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">Thanks!</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; ">–Robert Applebaum</div><div style="line-height: 17px; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0pt; "><em>The text above was written by Robert Applebaum, not by MoveOn staff, and MoveOn is not responsible for the content. This email was sent through MoveOn's secure system, and your information has been kept private.</em></div><div style="line-height: 17px; "><b>Want to support our work?</b> MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. <a href="https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/creditcard.html?cpn_id=457&id=39566-5226545-lbuTUTx" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Chip in here.</a></div><div style="line-height: 17px; "><br></div></font></div></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div class="ecxWordSection1" style="line-height: 17px; page: WordSection1; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h2 style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; text-indent: 0in; page-break-after: avoid; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Worker Occupational Safety and Health (WOSH) 24-HR Specialist Training<br><br></span></h2><h2 style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 110, 18) !important; text-indent: 0in; page-break-after: avoid; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; "><i style="line-height: 27px; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Labor Studies 115 “Workplace Health and Safety”</span></i><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; "> <br><br>Course Description:</span></h2><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; "> </span></p><ul type="disc" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">What do you do when a worker is injured on the job?</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">How do you protect workers exposed to unsafe equipment or chemical hazards?</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">When and how do you file a Cal/OSHA complaint?</span></li></ul><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; color: blue; "> </span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Topics Include:</span></p><ul type="disc" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">How to identify and analyze chemicals, ergonomic, and unsafe equipment</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">How Cal/OSHA and Workers’ Compensation work</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">How to form effective health and safety committees</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Elements of a comprehensive Illness and Injury Prevention Program (IIPP)</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Effective communication skills</span></li><li class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Resources and strategies for taking successful action</span></li></ul><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.25in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; "> </span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 24px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; color: red; ">Saturday, April 21<sup style="line-height: 20px; ">st</sup>; Sunday, April 22<sup style="line-height: 20px; ">nd</sup>; and </span><span style="line-height: 24px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; ">*<span style="color: red; ">Saturday, April 28<sup style="line-height: 20px; ">th</sup> </span> <span style="color: red; ">8:30AM-5:00PM <br></span><i>*Optional 3<sup style="line-height: 20px; ">rd</sup> class to earn Health & Safety certificate</i><span style="color: red; "><br><br></span><b></b></span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Location: Los Angeles Trade Tech College (LATTC) Labor Center</span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoPlainText" style="line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><b><span lang="X-NONE" style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; ">South Campus, TE Bldg., Room 221<span style="color: red; "><br><i>Contact: Tanya Akel (310) 794-5992 or LATTC (213) 763-7129</i></span></span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoPlainText" style="line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><b><span lang="X-NONE" style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; "> </span></b><span lang="X-NONE" style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria, serif; "></span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Register Online at: <a href="http://www.lattc.edu/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; ">www.lattc.edu</a> <i>or </i>on-site on the 1<sup style="line-height: 17px; ">st</sup> day of class</span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">Fee: $36.00 per unit / Health Center: $11.00 per semester</span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; "><br>For more information on current projects and resources available from LOSH visit the website at <a href="http://www.losh.ucla.edu/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="text-decoration: none; ">www.losh.ucla.edu</span></a> or call:</span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; ">310-794-5992 </span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; color: blue; "> </span></p></div><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><hr style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">LALS is an e-mail list announcing UCLA Labor Center and local events and actions. (Posting of announcements to the LALS listserv does not imply any endorsement by UCLA or the UCLA Labor Center.) </span>
</div><div><span style="color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></span></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Back to the Future: Union Survival Strategies in Open<br>Shop America<br>By Steve Early and Rand Wilson<br>Social Policy<br>Spring 2012<br><a href="http://www.socialpolicy.org/index.php/component/content/article/4-latest-issue/532-back-to-the-future-union-survival-strategies-in-open-shop-america" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">http://www.socialpolicy.org/index.php/component/content/article/4-latest-issue/532-back-to-the-future-union-survival-strategies-in-open-shop-america</a><br><br>When the history of mid-western de-unionization <br>is written, its sad chroniclers will begin their<br>story in Indiana. That is where Governor Mitch Daniels<br>paved the way, in 2005, for copycat attacks on<br>public-sector bargaining in Wisconsin, Ohio, and<br>Michigan -- and for a successful assault on private<br>sector union security in his own state earlier<br>this year.<br><br>A right-wing Republican, Daniels was elected in 2004.<br>Immediately after taking office, he began cutting state<br>agency jobs and, via executive order, revoked<br>state-employee bargaining rights granted by his<br>Democratic predecessor, Evan Bayh. Over the next six<br>years, state government employment dropped from 35,000<br>to 28,700. In 2005, 16,408 state workers were paying<br>union dues; by 2011, only 1,490 still belonged to labor<br>organizations now deprived of dues check-off.1<br><br>n Indiana, the end of collective bargaining led to a<br>pay freeze in 2009 and 2010, introduction of a new<br>merit-pay system, loss of seniority rights, and<br>health-care cost shifting. Several state employees<br>interviewed by The New York Times in February, 2011,<br>reported paying $5,200 a year for their insurance<br>premiums -- $3,400 more than when Daniels took over.<br>According to The Times's reporter, Steven Greenhouse,<br>the resulting drop in union membership was due "to<br>workers deciding it was no longer worth paying dues to<br>newly-toothless unions."<br><br>Jim Mills, a welfare worker in New Castle, Indiana,<br>offered a different explanation for why his union<br>branch shrank from 260 to twelve members: workers were<br>afraid that management would retaliate against them for<br>union activity once they were no longer protected by<br>union contracts.2<br><br>Republican governors elected in the fall of 2010 -- like<br>Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, and<br>Rick Snyder in Michigan -- all looked to Daniels as<br>their model. For unions like the Service Employees, the<br>American Federation of State, County, and Municipal<br>Employees (AFSCME), the two national teacher<br>organizations, NEA and AFT, unionized firefighters and<br>police, the Indiana scenario is a formula for union<br>marginalization, if not total extinction. As soon as<br>they took office in early 2011, Snyder and Kasich<br>quickly rescinded bargaining rights for the newest<br>public-sector union members in their respective<br>states--more than 40,000 child-care providers and<br>home-health aides. These workers had only recently been<br>organized under the terms of executive orders issued by<br>previous Democratic governors; none were covered by the<br>pension and medical plans covering regular state<br>workers, with a longer history of collective<br>bargaining.3<br><br>Broader anti-union measures introduced by Walker in<br>Wisconsin, and by Kasich in Ohio, were adopted by state<br>legislators not long afterwards, triggering the mass<br>community-labor protests in Madison described and<br>analyzed elsewhere in this issue of Social Policy. In<br>Wisconsin, these demonstrations reached truly unusual<br>and inspiring proportions in the winter of 2011. The<br>focus of organized labor's counter-campaign then became<br>a partially successful recall effort aimed at<br>Republican legislators and a legal challenge that<br>delayed -- but did not prevent -- implementation of the<br>law.4 Weighing its potential impact on 360,000 public<br>employees in the Buckeye State, some experts argued<br>that SB-5, Ohio's anti-union law, was even tougher than<br>Wisconsin's, because uniformed public-safety employees<br>were included whereas Walker excluded them from his<br>"budget repair" bill.5 Fortunately, labor opponents of<br>SB-5 collected more than one million signatures to<br>force a referendum vote last November that repealed<br>Kasich's draconian curbs on collective bargaining in<br>Ohio.<br><br>In Wisconsin, however, all state employees have been<br>thrust into a new open-shop environment since last<br>summer. County and municipal unions, along with local<br>teachers' associations, are losing their ability to<br>collect dues through automatic payroll deduction as<br>their current contracts expire. According to University<br>of Wisconsin labor historian Stephen Meyer, Walker's<br>anti-union legislation is worse than the private sector<br>"right to work" laws spawned by the 1947 Taft-Hartley<br>Act "because it requires that unions get re-certified<br>by their members yearly, at the same time that the<br>unions are prevented from accomplishing anything for<br>them."6 The new electoral deck is further stacked<br>against incumbent unions by the requirement that they<br>win recertification by majority vote of everyone in the<br>bargaining, rather than just 50% plus one, of the<br>workers who turn out to vote.7<br><br>Most of the 1.6 million American workers covered by<br>labor agreements, but who are not union members, can be<br>found in our twenty-three right-to-work states. This<br>political bloc increased by one earlier this year, when<br>Indiana's Republican-controlled legislature passed a<br>bill signed by Governor Daniels that outlawed<br>negotiation of any contract clause requiring payroll<br>deduction of dues -- or non-member "agency fees" -- for<br>union representation. In Indiana, as elsewhere, unions<br>in private industry remain legally obligated under the<br>National Labor Relations Act, which Taft-Hartley<br>amended, to provide services on an equal basis to<br>everyone in their bargaining units, regardless of<br>whether individual workers contribute a dime. In New<br>Hampshire in 2011, it took a Democratic governor's veto<br>to prevent the open shop from being imposed there, with<br>similar unfair financial burdens, on unions in both the<br>private and public sector. If anti-union forces had<br>succeeded in the Granite state last year, as they did<br>in Indiana this year, it would have marked the first<br>encroachment of "right-to-work" in New England, a<br>supposed "blue state" bastion.8<br><br>Dues-Deduction Dependence<br><br>Wherever legally sanctioned, negotiated provisions for<br>automatic payroll deduction of dues have long produced<br>a guaranteed income stream for U.S. labor<br>organizations. With the revenue from dues and "agency<br>fees" -- payments required by workers who choose not to<br>join -- unions have paid for their lawyers, lobbyists,<br>full-time negotiators, and field staff. They have also<br>helped finance state, local, and/or national election<br>campaign activity by their members, some of whom also<br>make voluntary membership contributions to union<br>politicalaction funds. Some commentators on the left<br>have long argued that "dues check off" makes unions<br>less responsive to workers, because the latter have no<br>way of withholding financial support from organizations<br>granted the exclusive legal right to represent them.<br>One radical critic of the union shop -- a longtime labor<br>educator and former organizer in the garment industry --<br>believes that labor's post-New-Deal reliance on<br>government certification and automatic dues deduction<br>effectively "precludes any meaningful internal<br>democracy -- a precondition to a militant mass<br>organization."9<br><br>For better or worse, depending on your point of view,<br>major unions are now operating in hundreds, if not<br>thousands, of workplaces in which union membership has<br>just become voluntary again. According to the<br>all-knowing editors of the New York Times, Republican<br>sponsors of recent openshop legislation are mistaken in<br>their belief that "unions will simply fade away" when<br>they have "no ability to raise funds." Says The Times,<br>optimistically, "As much as unions may struggle with<br>these new shackles, their members -- and their<br>motivation -- are not going away."10 On the other hand,<br>it has been many decades since passage of the NLRA and<br>the later public-sector bargaining laws modeled after<br>it. During that time, most unions have not had to<br>function as voluntary membership organizations within<br>privateand public-sector enterprises in much of the<br>country. One major challenge they face today is quickly<br>adapting to this new and more difficult<br>"internalorganizing" environment. In Wisconsin, for<br>example, a combination of rank-and-file apathy, anger,<br>fear, and/or dissatisfaction over past union<br>representation, including recent concession bargaining<br>about wages and benefits, could easily send dues<br>receipts plummeting to Indiana levels, if unions do not<br>strengthen their workplace structures and become more<br>member-oriented.<br><br>This is exactly the crisis that faced Local 100 of the<br>Transport Workers Union (TWU) New York City, when it<br>paid a high price for its workplace militancy seven<br>years ago. After a 2005 citywide bus and subway system<br>strike, 35,000 transit workers were punished under New<br>York's Taylor law which prohibits walkouts by public<br>employees. Local 100 members were assessed fines<br>ranging from $650 to $750, the equivalent of three<br>days' pay for most strikers. The local was fined $2.5<br>million, its president briefly jailed, and automatic<br>dues deduction temporarily suspended. The contract<br>settlement, which included unpopular givebacks, was<br>rejected narrowly but later imposed by an arbitrator.<br><br>The punitive suspension of TWU's dues check-off deal<br>with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority resulted<br>in the local's paid-up membership sinking to nearly<br>fifty percent in the bargaining unit involved in the<br>strike. Local 100's weak and demoralized steward<br>structure made systematic hand collection of dues<br>impossible in many workplaces. Members were bitter and<br>angry about being fined for striking against benefit<br>concessions they were ultimately forced to accept<br>anyway, after a work stoppage that many felt was poorly<br>organized and led by the union.<br><br>Dues deduction was eventually restored but, as recently<br>as late 2009 when a reform slate took over Local 100,<br>about 17,000 former strikers were not eligible to vote<br>because they still owed as much as $900 in back dues<br>and could not or would not pay that amount. Members of<br>the Take Back Our Union slate, headed by current Local<br>100 President John Samuelsen were faced with the<br>monumental challenge of restoring rank-and-file<br>confidence in the TWU and gradually coaxing as many<br>lapsed members as possible back into the fold. In late<br>2010, when Local 100 began preparing for contract<br>negotiations this year, stewards, officers, and<br>staffers were still trying to get 14,000 bus and subway<br>workers back into good membership standing.<br><br>In the rest of this article, we examine the pressing<br>debate, within labor, about how best to respond to such<br>daunting open-shop conditions, whether they arise in<br>atypical Local 100 fashion or as the result of<br>legislation and executive orders that more permanently<br>disrupt union financing, administration, and day-to-day<br>functioning.<br><br>Clearly, conducting "business as usual" is not a viable<br>option in new open-shop states. If government-employee<br>unions remain what Stanley Aronowitz calls "insurance<br>companies and grievance machines," the soft underbelly<br>of mainstream unionism, public sector division, may<br>soon be exposed for all to see. Are there ways that<br>these endangered labor organizations can operate<br>"outside the protection of the law?"11 Can they learn<br>to function with greater membership consent,<br>rank-and-file participation, and voluntary financial<br>buy-in than was needed in the past? Can they develop<br>internal organizing plans based on worker-toworker<br>relationship building and collective action on the job<br>as a substitute for formal collective bargaining?<br><br>Lessons of Southern Organizing<br><br>Public-sector unionists with long experience in<br>openshop states like Tennessee, Mississippi, North<br>Carolina, or Texas argue that all is not lost for their<br>brothers and sisters north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In<br>North Carolina, notes United Electrical Workers (UE)<br>organizer Leah Fried, "collective bargaining rights<br>were stripped from public employees in 1959 by an<br>all-white state legislature [which] made it illegal for<br>state and local governments to enter into collective<br>bargaining agreements with workers." For more than<br>fifteen years, the UE has "helped public workers across<br>North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia form<br>non-majority unions that organize and fight to improve<br>workers' lives on the job without a contract."12<br><br>UE Local 150, the North Carolina Public Service Workers<br>Union, initially concentrated on gaining strength<br>within the state university system, which includes<br>sixteen campuses and over 19,000 workers. The union's<br>primary base and leadership came from parts of the<br>workforce that is majority African-American and female,<br>like house-keeping, groundskeeping, and other blue<br>collar jobs. As UE organizer Steve Bader reported in<br>Labor Notes, "When UNC refused to meet with the union,<br>UE 150 organized Martin Luther King Day leafleting,<br>Black History Month black armband days, and meetings<br>with legislators [that] culminated in a meeting between<br>UNC System President Molly Broad's office and 18 rank<br>and file workers. The meeting pressured the president<br>into issuing an official memo that recognized workers'<br>rights to join and build their union without<br>retaliation, changed the grievance policy to allow a<br>co-worker grievance assistant, and established 'meet<br>and confer' bodies between employees and top<br>management."13<br><br>Later, the UE expanded to other UNC campuses and the<br>Department of Health and Human Services, where members<br>held union meetings during lunch or break time to<br>decide on issues and strategies. An independent union<br>of city workers in Durham voted to affiliate with UE<br>Local 150 and has even conducted several strikes.<br>Whether they are state or municipal employees,<br>rank-and-file activists are trained to represent<br>co-workers in grievance meetings with management and<br>serve as elected stewards and officers. According to<br>Bader:<br><br>"Victories in this area include winning formal<br>grievances over unfair discipline. In at least three<br>cases, racist managers and supervisors have been forced<br>to leave the job due to pressure from the union. At<br>almost every institution, union chapters have had<br>direct meetings with management regarding workplace<br>issues. In several instances they have won concrete<br>changes, such as improved equipment, respect for or<br>changed policy, and internally granted raises of<br>$1,500-3,000 for individual workers."<br><br>UE Local 150 also gathers, organizes, and distributes<br>data on wages, benefits, personnel practices, and<br>employment-related legislative initiatives --<br>information that may be publicly available but<br>difficult for workers to obtain. The union has<br>established a regular presence in the capital when the<br>legislature is in session and regularly contacts<br>lawmakers about issues affecting public workers.<br>Rank-and-file members are organized and encouraged to<br>speak directly to elected officials, rather than<br>relying on professional lobbyists. UE legislative<br>priorities or accomplishments in the past include<br>winning flat rather than percentage raises, to aid the<br>lowest paid, passage of bills to improve the grievance<br>procedure, and win stronger family and medical leave<br>rights and protection against discrimination based on<br>disability. The UE has also generated much publicity<br>for its creative challenge of North Carolina's legal<br>ban on public-sector bargaining as a violation of<br>international labor standards.<br><br>Tom Smith is an organizer for and former president of<br>Communications Workers of America Local 3865,<br>Tennessee's United Campus Workers (UCW). UCW/ CWA is a<br>"non-majority union" of state university workers that's<br>grown from two dozen members on one campus to more than<br>1,200 in eight cities in the last ten years. "While<br>having dues check-off helps, not having it isn't<br>fatal," says Smith, although he notes that "we struggle<br>with selfsustainability every day." According to Smith,<br>in the early years of Local 3865, "elements of our<br>leadership argued that having to hand-collect dues kept<br>the local's leaders and organizers honest. This<br>attitude meant attending weekly meetings to make plans<br>to collect dues. Quickly we realized that spending the<br>majority of our time playing bill collector was not<br>part and parcel of union democracy, nor did it help<br>build the kind of political relationships we're aiming<br>for on the job."14<br><br>Instead, stewards started to spend more of their time<br>"listening to co-workers, gathering opinions about how<br>to build the union, organizing meetings, and working to<br>save jobs from budget cuts." Local 3865 switched from<br>hand collection of cash or checks to a bank-draft<br>system which enables dues to be deducted straight from<br>members' accounts. But that requires new members to<br>fill out a form providing their bank routing and<br>account numbers, which creates "a new layer of<br>difficulty in signing up members."<br><br>"Bank drafts are complicated. We have a number of<br>different drafts depending on pay periods. As anyone<br>who has lived from paycheck to paycheck knows,<br>automatic withdrawals need to be timed so that enough<br>"available funds" are left behind to ensure groceries<br>and gas do not overdraw the account. When possible we<br>deduct dues from the check that does not contain the<br>health insurance premium."<br><br>According to Smith, "very few people sign on first<br>contact" because "a longer relationship must be built<br>beforehand." The amount of work required for dues<br>collection via bank drafts is still "very large." Local<br>3865 staff devote dozens of hours each month to adding<br>new members to the system, dealing with transaction<br>fees, returns that slam the union with an additional<br>fee, and costly "drops" when workers drop out of the<br>union. "We now know all the local bank routing numbers,<br>"he says, "so new members signing up can simply put<br>their bank's name on a dues form that specifies savings<br>or checking account, to prevent expensive returns."15<br><br>In Texas, the CWA-backed counterpart of Local 3865 is<br>the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU)/CWA Local 6186,<br>a group launched as a "non-majority union" organizing<br>project in the early 1980s. Although heavily subsidized<br>by the national union for many years, TSEU has built up<br>a dues-paying membership base, now numbering about<br>12,000, in the same fashion as higher-ed union<br>organizers in Tennessee. (Texas has more than 120,000<br>state employees.) Both white-collar and blue-collar<br>state workers can join, in any state department,<br>agency, or university system campus. As TSEU lead<br>organizer Jim Branson explains, "The union can<br>represent workers in grievance hearings, which means<br>that individual workers don't have to be on their own<br>when faced with some kind of adverse personnel<br>action."16 But individual worker representation in<br>grievance proceedings is just "a small part of what<br>TSEU does," Branson says.<br><br>"We have a voice on the job because we are an active<br>and growing movement that puts a lot of emphasis on<br>organizing. We have agency caucuses, made up of union<br>activists, who meet regularly to formulate goals and<br>plan actions for winning those goals. From time to<br>time, members of the caucus will meet with agency heads<br>to discuss our goals, and when the legislature is in<br>session, caucus members will speak directly to<br>lawmakers. ....If a united group of workers act like a<br>union, they can have a voice on the job. It's not easy,<br>but it can be done."<br><br>TSEU activist William Rogers says his union "has<br>managed to win some victories even though it has very<br>few legal rights." In 2007, for example, TSEU led a<br>campaign that saved thousands of government jobs by<br>preventing further expansion of privatization of the<br>state's health and human services. "That was a fight of<br>organized workers, even though we weren't a majority in<br>the health and human services agency, and we didn't<br>have collective bargaining," Branson said. "But members<br>mobilized like crazy. Their mobilization turned public<br>opinion against the privatization plan, and when the<br>contractor screwed up, the state had no choice but to<br>fire it." TSEU members throughout Texas lobbied elected<br>officials and succeeded in getting about 100 counties<br>and municipalities to pass resolutions against the<br>governor's privatization plan. They also visited state<br>legislators, marched, rallied, demonstrated, held press<br>conferences, and spoke out at public hearings. In the<br>process, reports Branson, "We got workers who had been<br>sitting on the fence to join the union. We were able to<br>maintain our presence in the agency -- even though a lot<br>of workers were quitting in anticipation of being laid<br>off -- because we never stopped organizing."<br><br>Rethinking the Union Idea in Wisconsin From the early<br>1930s until 1959, Wisconsin's public workers practiced<br>"informal bargaining," like UE and CWA members in the<br>South today, with the eventual goal of securing full<br>collective-bargaining rights. Their efforts began<br>during the great union wave of the 1930s when many<br>public employees, like private-sector workers, asserted<br>their rights to organize and negotiate with their<br>employers, wherever they could. It was through<br>organizing, demanding voluntary recognition, and<br>working to expand these bargaining relationships that<br>most Wisconsin public-sector unions were finally able<br>to win a legal mechanism for formal certification and<br>dues checkoff fifty years ago. Before that, union<br>members kept their organizations afloat with voluntary<br>dues payments, and/or national union subsidies. Several<br>competing University of Wisconsin faculty organizations<br>functioned this way until several years ago, when they<br>finally won the right to seek union certification,<br>based on representation elections -- only to lose that<br>new recognition process under Walker.<br><br>One longtime faculty organizer for the AFT was Frank<br>Emspak, who taught at the UW School for Workers and now<br>runs Workers Independent News (WIN), a labor radio<br>project based in Madison. Emspak was among those<br>veterans of last year's "Wisconsin uprising" who warned<br>about the impending impact of the June 2011<br>cancellation of automatic dues deduction. According to<br>Emspak, organized labor's shift to recall election<br>activity, after the state capitol occupation and<br>rallies ended, meant that "rebuilding of the locals in<br>offices and work sites took second place," even though<br>some unions, like the NEA-affiliated Wisconsin<br>Education Association Council (WEAC), did conduct<br>"training for their local union leaders based on member<br>mobilization."<br><br>According to Emspak, "as the spring turned to summer,<br>it became clearer that, at the level of the workplace,<br>the Wisconsin trade union movement faced a much more<br>difficult challenge [because] the culture and history<br>of public sector unionism has essentially been that of<br>a lobbying organization combined with a legalistic<br>contract enforcement mechanism heavily dependent on<br>arbitration. [F]or that to change at the base, one<br>would have to see an expenditure of resources similar<br>to that in the political sphere." As Emspak points out,<br>AFSCME Council 24 and the Wisconsin AFT "are in a<br>long-term untenable position unless they can organize<br>their members in individual dues collection programs."<br>As of mid-October, 2011, Emspak characterized their<br>individual sign-up results as "not too successful,"<br>with "some larger AFSCME and AFT locals covering state<br>workers" only having dues-paying membership of "about<br>10 percent."17 The recently organized University of<br>Wisconsin faculty units on campuses outside of Madison<br>-- although now stripped of the ability to negotiate<br>first contracts -- have a much higher reported<br>membership, nearly 75%.<br><br>The Wisconsin Teaching Assistants' Association (TAA) is<br>the forty-year-old Madison-based AFT affiliate that<br>helped trigger the state capitol take-over in February<br>2011. The TAA has a "strong organizing culture" and<br>"the ability to mobilize people when push comes to<br>shove," says TAA co-president Alex Hanna proudly.<br>Nevertheless, in any highturnover academic bargaining<br>unit of part-timers, finding and signing up members is<br>difficult under the best of legal circumstances. On the<br>Madison campus, in the past, the TAA has generally<br>achieved about 50% membership, while the remaining<br>1,500 teaching assistants were mandatory agency-fee<br>payers.<br><br>In August of 2011, the union launched its first<br>recruitment "blitz" under the current conditions of<br>having no contract that requires everyone in the<br>bargaining unit to pay their fair share of union<br>bargaining and servicing costs, in one form or another.<br>As TAA co-president Adrienne Pagac observed, "No law,<br>including one that grants an organization the right to<br>collectively bargain, makes us a union. Unions existed<br>prior to the implementation of such laws and will<br>remain even though Scott Walker and Republican<br>legislators have taken our rights from us." As of<br>February 2012, about 600 to 700 TAs had voluntarily<br>agreed to pay dues, less than half the TAA's old<br>membership level, although sign-ups continue throughout<br>the academic year.<br><br>David Newby, a founder of the TAA, former Madison<br>central labor council leader, and now the retired<br>president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, worries that<br>neither AFSCME nor AFT, in other state-worker units,<br>will be able to reach membership levels of 25%. He<br>fears that "this year will be the best they do for<br>membership unless they organize at the worksite and<br>start acting like a union, even though they don't have<br>contracts or legal status." One factor that has not<br>helped is the lack of any substantial dues reduction<br>from unions already facing budget crises and the need<br>to lay off staff. For example, TAA is getting no relief<br>on the per-capita dues it is still required to pay to<br>the AFT's state and national organizations for each<br>member it signs up. In contrast, when members of CWA<br>affiliates like the TSEU or Local 3865 in Tennessee<br>lack contract coverage, they pay lower than normal<br>dues, 1.15% for public-sector members.<br><br>AFSCME's university locals sought a reduction in their<br>dues, since members have suffered a big pay cut due to<br>benefit concessions extracted by Walker, but they got<br>just a few dollars knocked off average dues payments of<br>$39 a month. Both rank and filers and officials agree<br>that getting workers to pay dues voluntarily now is a<br>"hard sell" in many workplaces. As one Wisconsin union<br>officer told a reporter last year, "People have<br>different perspectives on whether the union will still<br>be what it was or should be and that may affect whether<br>they're willing to pay dues." Anne Habel of AFSCME<br>Local 171 believes that some of her co-workers will be<br>less likely to maintain their membership in a statewide<br>labor organization if "they don't understand what they<br>get from it."18<br><br>To encourage members of AFSCME Local 2748 to "recommit"<br>to paying dues through automatic deductions from their<br>bank accounts, union staffers first went door to door<br>on their own. Local 2748 member Estelle Clark reports<br>that the results got better when rank and filers from<br>Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development were<br>recruited and trained to help with house visits,<br>"because they could relate better to their co-workers."<br>As Labor Notes reported in February, this one-on-one<br>canvassing "became a way not only to talk to inactive<br>members but also to develop leadership skills among<br>activists." Workplace meetings have been turned into<br>"an opportunity for members to discuss why belonging to<br>a union is important in the first place -- conversations<br>that many feel should have been happening all along."<br>In Rock County, seventy-six out of eighty<br>highway-maintenance shop workers are now AFSCME members<br>in good standing after collectively deciding to use the<br>same credit union for dues payments. "Walker said the<br>county couldn't collect our dues," explains Local 1077<br>President Marv Vike. "We're just going through a<br>different route."19<br><br>Like Newby, AFSCME Council 40 representative Ed<br>Sadlowski, Jr, welcomes this embrace of "old-school<br>unionism that we haven't had in the past." Already,<br>highway maintenance workers and public employees have<br>been forced to organize together, on the job, in<br>response to safety problems, work-rule changes, and<br>unfair discipline. Before Walker's law, the union might<br>just have filed grievances, Sadlowski notes, but "now<br>it's 'get people to the picket line.' Direct action<br>gets the goods." In Sadlowski's view, "we simply can't<br>return to the model of having a staff do everything for<br>workers and expect to survive as a union. Now, we<br>actually have to involve people and make them feel like<br>they, not their staff representatives, run their<br>unions."20<br><br>Conclusion<br><br>Longtime union activist and sociology professor Stanley<br>Aronowitz has written extensively about the unhealthy<br>synergy between membership expectations and<br>public-sector-union functioning, as the latter has<br>evolved since the rank-and-file upsurge that won<br>collective-bargaining rights for teachers and other<br>civil servants in the 1960s and '70s. Over time,<br>members came to "view their unions as service<br>providers, rather than as instruments of mobilization."<br>As Aronowitz notes, "The unions may fight individual<br>grievances and negotiate decent contracts, but to call<br>upon their members to conduct collective political<br>fights -- including direct actions that might disturb<br>the comfortable relationship that the leadership enjoys<br>with the employer -- is well beyond the perspective, and<br>therefore, the capacity, of the union. In short, the<br>member is now generally a client of the union rather<br>than its owner."21<br><br>The rupture of labor-management relationships that may<br>have been "comfortable" in the past, plus the<br>accompanying loss of legal rights in a growing number<br>of states, have triggered membership-mobilization<br>activity reminiscent of the original struggles for<br>collective bargaining. In Wisconsin and elsewhere,<br>labor's recent defensive battles demonstrate that a new<br>model of union functioning is not only possible but<br>necessary for survival. As a first step in this process<br>of union transformation under duress, workers must<br>definitely shed their past role as "clients" or passive<br>consumers of union services. In workplaces without a<br>union or agency shop and collective bargaining as<br>practiced for many decades, they must take ownership of<br>their own organizations and return them to their<br>workplace roots, drawing on the experiences of public<br>workers in the South whose practice of public-sector<br>unionism has, by necessity, been very different for the<br>last half century.<br><br>Steve Early worked for twenty-seven years as an<br>organizer and international representative for the</pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br>Communications Workers of America.<br><br>Rand Wilson is organizing director of Service Employees<br>International Union Local 888 in Boston. This article<br>is an updated version of a chapter in Wisconsin<br>Uprising: Labor Fights Back (Monthly Review Books,<br>2012), edited by Michael D. Yates.<br><br>____________________________________________<br><br>PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to<br>people on the left that will help them to interpret the<br>world and to change it.<br></pre><pre style="line-height: 17px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br></pre></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=1c9Sn2uIxgKPPtuO3iJwEPy5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(60, 167, 221); cursor: pointer; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); "><img width="760" height="135" border="0" id="ecxheaderimage" alt="Take Action | Communications Workers of America" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4004/c/11/images/e-activist-email-header.jpg" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></a><br style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); "><table width="760" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="25" border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="ecxcontenttable" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><tbody><tr><td width="760" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="ecxcontentcell" style="line-height: 21px; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; "><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Dear Friend,</p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Our rights to fair, democratic elections are under attack. Big business and extremist Republicans in Congress have teamed<a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=wWmhwomqZYnpMa0jAIwrIPy5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(109, 14, 15); cursor: pointer; "><img src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4004/c/11/images/20111108-NLRB-voting-rights-at-work.jpg" vspace="6" hspace="6" align="right" alt="" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></a> up to use a procedural gimmick to deny workers access to fair, democratic union elections. The U.S. Senate will vote on this important issue this week. <a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ugtEvM8KYtMpuN5rkuy1KPy5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(109, 14, 15); cursor: pointer; ">Email your Senators now and take action to protect America's workers.</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) protects America's workers from corporate greed. Extremists in Congress and anti-union businesses have broken the system with endless delays designed to undermine democracy at work. The NLRB has passed a sensible rule that modernizes procedures, increases efficiency and eliminates frivolous lawsuits. Now these extremists want to overturn that rule.</p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=RFD2kTHJDygQmCTAGSrCDfy5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(109, 14, 15); cursor: pointer; ">Click here to email your Senators and tell them to protect America's workers and vote NO on Resolution 36. Fight the corporate lobbyists trying to keep the status quo.</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Anti-union politicians and corporate special interests are working to hi-jack the regulation process to benefit the 1% and silence the 99%. We cannot let the Senate pass Resolution 36 and overturn the NLRB rule that balances the election process. The rights of working people to achieve economic security are at stake.</p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=VeD1aPWh%2Bv0nfsByc//MePy5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(109, 14, 15); cursor: pointer; ">Click here and contact your Senators today.</a> Stand with the 99%. Stop businesses from forcing workers to wait months or years to vote and bargain for good wages and benefits. </p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=qIi02zwcKwGpcHYaPyoDa/y5xqtc9Rwc" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(109, 14, 15); cursor: pointer; ">http://cwa-unio<wbr>n.org/no-36</a></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">In Unity,</p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><div style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "></div><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><img border="0" alt="Beth Allen" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4004/c/11/images/allen-beth-email-signature.jpg"></p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; ">Beth Allen<br>Online Communications Director</p><p style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><b style="line-height: 23px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Dear Friends,</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Laura from California and her husband graduated from the same college, with the same degree and interviewed for the same job. There were several openings for the position and both Laura and her husband were made an offer. The catch? Laura's salary offer was 13% less than her husband's.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">1</sup></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Robin from Connecticut worked for years as a copywriter at an advertising agency. When the agency took on a new client, they needed to hire another copywriter. They hired a man with no prior experience and offered him $20,000 a year more than what Robin was making. When she asked why, her employers told her, "he has a wife and children to take care of."<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">2</sup></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Sadly, there are millions of stories like these. Today, on average, women only make $0.77 for every dollar a man earns.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">3</sup> <strong>Worse, women can be fired for discussing or revealing their wages.</strong><sup style="line-height: 19px; ">4</sup> </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2"><strong>Right now we have a chance to do something about it.</strong> The Pay Check Fairness Act is pending in Congress right now--and today, Equal Pay Day, members of Congress are discussing this bill and the issue of wage discrimination in meetings all over Capitol Hill. But Congress is only going to act if they hear from hundreds of thousands of us.<strong> Can you sign this petition demanding that Congress pass the Paycheck Fairness Act right away?</strong> We'll deliver it with our allies at MomsRising.org this week.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/120?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=2" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; "><font size="2">http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/fairpay/</font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">The facts when it comes to pay discrimination are really staggering.</font></p><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><font size="2">The average, full-time working woman in America makes only $0.77 for every dollar a man makes. At the state level, things can be even more dire--women in Louisiana for example only make $0.67 on the dollar.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">5</sup></font></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><font size="2">It's much worse for women of color. African American women make only $0.62 on the dollar and Latinas only $0.54<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">6</sup></font></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><font size="2">These gaps can add up to as much as $24,000 in lost wages every single year. On average, women will lose $431,000(!) over a 40 year working career.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">7</sup></font></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; "><font size="2">Mothers make up 40% of the primary breadwinners in this country and therefore it's not just women who are affected by this discrimination, it's entire families.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">8</sup></font></li></ul><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">And when women try to fight wage discrimination in their jobs they are often retaliated against or fired because labor laws are filled with loopholes that encourage wage discrimination and make it impossible for women to even sue to rectify it.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Frankly, it's outrageous and it has to stop. The Paycheck Fairness Act can help.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">The Paycheck Fairness Act would help bring an end to pay discrimination by closing a set of loopholes in current labor laws that make it near impossible for workers to expose and fix pay discrimination. It would ban employer retaliation against workers who seek to expose wage discrimination, make it easier for workers to join together in class action suits to fight it and give victims full compensation and back pay.<sup style="line-height: 19px; ">9</sup></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">There is a lot of talk in Washington about the War on Women. Members of both parties have been trying to score political points with rhetoric about which side values women more. At a time when the country is in a serious recession and families are struggling to put food on the table, there is an easy way for politicians to prove it.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">They can support and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Click here to sign the petition calling on Congress do that:</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/120?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=3" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; "><font size="2">http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/fairpay/</font></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Thanks!</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">--Nita and Shaunna, UltraViolet</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">Sources:</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">1. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/121?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=4" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Families Need Equal Pay for Equal Work,</a> MomsRising.org, April 12, 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">2. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/121?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=5" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Families Need Equal Pay for Equal Work,</a> MomsRising.org, April 12, 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">3. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/122?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=6" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Women Can't Afford Unfair Pay Today,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 11, 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">4. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/123?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=7" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Combating Punitive Pay Secrecy Policies,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">5. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/124?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=8" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">The Importance Of Fair Pay For Louisiana Women,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">6. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/125?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=9" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Closing the Wage Gap is Especially Important for Women of Color in Difficult Times,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">7. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/125?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=10" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Closing the Wage Gap is Especially Important for Women of Color in Difficult Times,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2012<br><a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/127?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=11" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">The Top 10 Facts About the Wage Gap, Center for American Progress,</a> April 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">8. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/125?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=12" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Closing the Wage Gap is Especially Important for Women of Color in Difficult Times,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2012</font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><font size="2">9. <a href="http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/126?akid=76.73064.qt63kr&t=13" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(30, 102, 174); cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana; ">Women’s Lower Wages Worsen their Circumstances In a Difficult Economy,</a> National Women's Law Center, April 2010</font></p><p style="font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br></p><p style="font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1.35em; "><br></p></b></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rss/breakingnews/901371/senate_seeks_ways_to_save_ailing_us_postal_service/?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&rd=1&t=13">http://www.alternet.org/rss/breakingnews/901371/senate_seeks_ways_to_save_ailing_us_postal_service/?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&rd=1&t=13</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><div style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: -webkit-left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/18110?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&t=13" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Senate Seeks Ways To Save Ailing US Postal Service</a></div><div style="line-height: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: -webkit-left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(222, 73, 0); ">By The Huffington Post News Editors | Huffington Post</div></div><div style="line-height: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: -webkit-left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(222, 73, 0); "><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/901333/class_warfare%3A_as_american_as_apple_pie/#paragraph2">http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/901333/class_warfare%3A_as_american_as_apple_pie/#paragraph2</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><div style="line-height: 23px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://act.alternet.org/go/18108?akid=8604.16102.zFMol4&t=11" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Class Warfare: As American as Apple Pie</a></div><div style="line-height: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(222, 73, 0); ">By Ed Kilgore | Washington Monthly</div></div><div style="line-height: 14px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(222, 73, 0); "><br></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><div class="ClearBoth" style="line-height: 15px; clear: both; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; 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height: 0px; "></div><div class="IconBar" id="mps0_hmlvControl_lib" style="padding-left: 7px; "></div><div class="ClearBoth Border Empty" style="clear: both; height: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); "></div><div class="Content Border" id="mps0_hmlvControl_c" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); background-image: url(https://gfx5.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/liveviews/gradient.png); background-position: 50% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; "><div class="TabSelected" id="mps0_hmlvControl_02"><div id="mps0_hmlvControl_media" t="1 attachment (333.3 KB)" mi="[['April 18 flyer.pdf', 'GenericFile', 'https\x3a\x2f\x2fgfx6.hotmail.com\x2fmail\x2fw4\x2fpr04\x2fltr\x2fat48\x2fpdf.png', '', '', '', '', '', '', '333.3 KB', '0', '0', 'None', '']]" b="Attachment" nptw="56" npth="56" hmurl="https://gfx6.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/WL-Hotmail_h_rgb_r.png" hmttip="Hotmail" rtlmark=""><div class="MediaStripOuterContainer" style="position: relative; padding-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 10px; "><div class="PhotoStripContainer" style="position: relative; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; height: 76px; "><div id="mps0_hmlvControl_media_ms" class="PhotoStrip" style="width: 220px; "><div class="MediaItemContainer" index="0" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; "><div class="MediaItem File" style="margin-top: 1px; margin-right: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; margin-left: 1px; width: 206px; "><img class="Thumb FloatLeft" src="https://gfx6.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/at48/pdf.png" alt="Download April 18 flyer.pdf (333.3 KB)" title="Download April 18 flyer.pdf (333.3 KB)" style="float: left; cursor: pointer; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; "><div class="Filename" style="padding-top: 8px; ">April 18 ...pdf</div><div class="FileSize"><a href="https://blu155.mail.live.com/mail/#" title="Download April 18 flyer.pdf (333.3 KB)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; ">Download</a><span style="padding-left: 5px; ">(333.3 KB)</span></div><div class="ClearBoth" style="clear: both; "></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="mps0_hmlvControl_media_linkContainer" class="LinkContainer" style="padding-left: 6px; "><div class="ToolbarItem" style="float: left; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 0px; "><a aidx="-1" adepth="" ablob="" href="https://blu155.mail.live.com/mail/#" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); cursor: pointer; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; margin-top: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; display: block; ">Download as zip</a></div></div><div class="ClearBoth Empty" style="clear: both; height: 0px; "></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="mps0_readMsgBodyContainer" class="ReadMsgBody" style="line-height: 15px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; overflow-x: hidden; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="SandboxScopeClass ExternalClass" id="mps0_MsgContainer" style="line-height: normal; font-size: 10pt; display: inline-block; "><div style="line-height: 17px; "><span lang="en-US"><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; ">I apologize for not attaching the flyer. Here it is.</font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "> </font></span></font></div><div><div style="padding-top: 3pt; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); "><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><b>From:</b></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "> Sandy Naranjo </span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><b>Sent:</b></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "> Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:40 AM</span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><b>To:</b></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "> Sandy Naranjo</span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "><b>Subject:</b></span></font><font face="Tahoma,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; "> AFGE members' action against USCIS move-April 18</span></font></span></font></div></div></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "> </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; ">Greetings Sisters and Brothers<font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; ">,</font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "> </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; ">Please come out in support of AFGE members<font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; ">’</font> action against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services<font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; ">’</font> decision to relocate offices from Downtown San Diego and Chula Vista to Kearny Mesa. This move will be a detriment to those applying for citizenship and for those who work in Citizenship and Immigration services.</span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "> </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><b>Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, April 18 at 11:45 a.m. at the intersection of Union and Broadway in Downtown San Diego for a rally and march.</b></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "> </font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; ">Attached is the flyer. Please contact me if you have any questions. </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "> </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "> </span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Informal Roman" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><b>In Solidarity, </b></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Informal Roman" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><b>Sandy Naranjo</b></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Informal Roman" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><b>Field Organizer</b></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Informal Roman" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><b>San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO </b></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Informal Roman" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "> </span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span lang="es-MX" style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">3737 Camino Del Rio South, Suite 403</span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">San Diego, CA 92108</span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">Phone:619-228-8101 ext 6</span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">Email: </span></font><a href="mailto:snaranjo@unionyes.org" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><font color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; ">snaranjo@unionyes.org</font></span></font></a><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#1F497D" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">Twitter: @sandyunion</span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "> </span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">“ </span></font><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><b>Strike not for a few cents more an hour, because the price of living will be raised faster still, but strike for all you earn, be content with nothing less.” Lucy Parsons</b></span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#C00000" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "> </span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#C00000" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; ">sn/OPEIU-537, AFL-CIO</span></font></span></font></div><div><font face="Calibri,sans-serif" size="2" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; "><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3" color="#C00000" style="line-height: normal; "><span style="line-height: 20px; font-size: 12pt; "><br></span></font></span></font></div></span></div></div></div></div><div>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@</div><div><br></div><div><table class="ecxMsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-collapse: collapse; "><tbody><tr><td width="233" colspan="3" style="width: 174.55pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/" target="_blank" style="color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; "><img border="0" width="215" height="161" id="ecx_x0000_i1025" src="" alt="image001.jpg@01CB0626.285E6570" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></span></a><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "></span></p></td><td width="579" colspan="8" valign="top" style="width: 434.05pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: -27pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><img border="0" width="535" height="180" id="ecx_x0000_i1026" src="" alt="image002.jpg@01CB0626.285E6570"></span></p></td></tr><tr><td width="811" colspan="11" valign="top" style="width: 608.6pt; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: gray; border-bottom-width: 1pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: -27pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><span style="line-height: 9px; font-size: 5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "> </span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: 0.05in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><b><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "><a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/leadershipschools/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="color: gray; text-decoration: none; ">Leadership Schools</span></a> · <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/workshops/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="color: gray; text-decoration: none; ">Workshops</span></a> · <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/research/" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="color: gray; text-decoration: none; ">Research Reports</span></a> · <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/publications/index.shtml" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><span style="color: gray; text-decoration: none; ">Publications</span></a></span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: -27pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><span style="line-height: 9px; font-size: 5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 96.65pt; "><td width="522" colspan="7" valign="top" style="width: 391.75pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; height: 96.65pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><i><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "> </span></i></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><i><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">A joint report from the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, NORC at the University of Chicago, and Towers Watson</span></i></p><p class="ecxDefault" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><i><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; "> </span></i></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="line-height: 24px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Health Insurance Reforms: How Will They Affect Employment-Based Coverage in California?</span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">April 2012, by Jon Gabel, Ryan Lore, Roland McDevitt, and Jeremy Pickreign</span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p><p class="ecxDefault" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 12.6pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; ">» <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/healthcare/health_insurance_reforms.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: purple; cursor: pointer; ">Issue Brief</a></span></p><p class="ecxDefault" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.05in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">The objectives of this issue brief are: (1) to examine how insurance reforms required by the Affordable Care Act will affect benefit packages currently offered by California employers and (2) to estimate out-of-pocket expenses and actuarial values for households with employment-based health plans in California in 2010. We use simulated bill paying to estimate the percentage of the bill paid by the health plan (actuarial value) and via households’ out-of-pocket expenses. Data on employment-based health benefits are from the 2010 California Health Benefits Survey. MarketScan medical claims data provide the source of information on use and cost of services. Findings indicate that most 2010 and 2014 insurance reforms will not have major effects on current plans offered by California employers. Two exceptions are a prohibition on lifetime maximum benefits and a limit on the out-of-pocket expenses an employee may incur. The average actuarial value for an employment-based plan in California is 0.87 compared to 0.83 for the nation. Average out-of-pocket medical expenses for households with employment-based insurance are $1,298.</span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: 0.05in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> </span></p></td><td width="289" colspan="4" valign="top" style="width: 216.85pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; height: 96.65pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><b><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "> </span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><b><span style="line-height: 19px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "> </span></b></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/healthcare/health_insurance_reforms.shtml" target="_blank" style="color: purple; cursor: pointer; "><b><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); letter-spacing: 3.5pt; text-decoration: none; "><img border="0" width="284" height="351" id="ecxPicture_x0020_22" src="" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></span></b></a><b><span style="line-height: 17px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 31.85pt; "><td width="811" colspan="11" valign="top" style="width: 608.6pt; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: gray; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; height: 31.85pt; "><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-right: -27pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><span style="line-height: 9px; font-size: 5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; "> </span></p><p class="ecxMsoNormal" align="center" style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center; "><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: gray; letter-spacing: 3.5pt; 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color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#ffffff"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; "><img src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/c/18/images/banner-afl-cio-new-700-take-action.jpg" alt=""></p><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="7" border="0" align="center" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="right" width="231" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><table align="right" width="215" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#333333" border="1" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td><table align="right" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8" border="0" style="line-height: 17px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top" bgcolor="#cc0000"><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><span style="line-height: 23px; font-size: 18px; "><font color="white" style="line-height: normal; "><strong style="line-height: 23px; ">URGENT<br></strong></font></span></p></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; text-align: center; "><b>Protect workers' rights from corporate politicians.<br><br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=aVVdc31VcsBRveESev6UGxzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Write your senators NOW</a>.</b></p><hr><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; text-align: center; ">Share on<b> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=2wThTL2WvHR1rhgTbjRRTxzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Facebook</a> </b>and<b><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=fXefFr6Sb%2BdBWDLWeETqHhzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Twitter</a></b><br><br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=uif60j7vxeuSlKnBQEyV8hzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_facebook.jpg" alt="Facebook" title="Facebook" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></span></a> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=HNO0fsfl8oO6%2BpqzytKYjhzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_twitter.jpg" alt="Twitter" title="Twitter" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></span></a></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><br><br>Corporate-bought politicians are taking aim at workers again. <b>And this time, they’ve got fair elections for workers in the crosshairs.</b><br><br>In December, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the federal agency that protects workers’ rights—issued a rule that modernizes the NLRB election process and helps ensure workers have a fair way to form a union without unfair delays and manipulation of the process by employers. <br><br>Now, anti-worker politicians in Congress are trying to ram through a resolution to undo this modest step forward for the 99%. <br><br><b>The resolution is headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate this week, and we need your voice in this debate. <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Bau0%2B/HYEVtfvPYVEhVDhRzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Please take 30 seconds to write your senators NOW</a>.</b><br><br>By limiting delays and frivolous litigation, the NLRB’s rule helps ensure that workers who want to vote to form their own union have a fair opportunity to do so. <br><br>From the day a worker is hired, companies have every opportunity to communicate with employees about the pros and cons of having a union. But extremists have pushed a congressional resolution that would overturn the NLRB’s new election procedures: They’re trying to pay back their corporate donors by slashing workers’ rights on the job once again.<br><br><b><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=y5hPiqVHdino5FrRGW8p3hzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Let your senators know that voters won’t stand for this senseless attack</a>.</b><br><br><b>The stakes are too high for working families to stay on the sidelines.</b> If corporate-backed politicians pass this week’s attack on fair elections, they’ll:</p><ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 1em; padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 1em; "><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><b>Resurrect the barriers workers face when they want a simple up-or-down vote on forming a union</b>, giving an unfair advantage to law-breaking CEOs.<br> <br></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><b>Encourage costly delays and litigation</b>, paving the way for employers who want to retaliate against workers.<br> <br></li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><b>Make it even harder for employees to form a union and negotiate for fair pay and benefits</b>, weakening the middle class and our chances at a brighter economic future.</li></ul><p style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><b>From statehouses across the country to Congress, the forces of the 1% are openly and brazenly waging war on workers.</b> This attack on the NLRB is just the latest in this relentless series of nationally coordinated assaults on workers and collective bargaining rights. Rather than working together to create jobs, restore tax fairness and jumpstart our economy, extreme legislators are pushing divisive policies that put workers' rights on the chopping block. <br><br><b>Corporate politicians won’t let up until even the most modest workplace protections have been eliminated. <i>But you can help stop this attack in its tracks. </i></b><br><br><b><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=qc2ytyTWr%2B%2BICiH5uemiMhzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Tell your senators: Don’t reverse progress for workers</a>. </b><br><br>Thank you for all the work you do.<br><br>In Solidarity,<br><br>Richard L. Trumka<br>President, AFL-CIO</p></td></tr><tr><td><hr><p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; "><span style="line-height: 15px; font-size: 12px; ">To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=VNWQefCyZrk5a%2ByCo4gBWhzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b>www.aflcio.org</b></a>.<br><br>Follow us on <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=tBDZ7Jb0iwL9S3ydLrKHyRzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=/VyXhmBdhS3W9YIDGH8m1BzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><b>Twitter</b></a>.<br><br><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=Z0BxhdJw2d8A2ZXb3%2BNT9hzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_facebook.jpg" alt="Facebook" title="Facebook" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></a> <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=7I5MJCEvOaQ3l0kXPOSNpRzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; "><img width="24" height="24" border="0" src="https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4001/images/icon_24x24_twitter.jpg" alt="Twitter" title="Twitter" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; "></a></span></p><p style="line-height: 13px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10px; text-align: right; "><a href="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=gc%2BIMZRc9BaJYWwYAbRcSRzoAJLcej0m" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 207); cursor: pointer; ">Click here to unsubscribe</a>.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><img width="1" height="1" src="http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/TrackImage?key=530955641" style="line-height: 17px; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">
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